Four female founders presented at the final Vinetta Project pitch challenge in D.C. on Wednesday evening at Booz Allen Hamilton, where the #dctech community gathered to see who took home the $20,000 grand prize.

Before the pitch competition kicked off, Vinetta Project CEO Vanessa Dawson shared some kind words, followed by a panel moderated by Lyft Marketing Manager Kate Glanz and joined by the night’s judges — George Farha of GSP Financial, Julie McPherson of Booz Allen Hamilton, Maggie Dorn of Motley Fool and Alex McManus of Eyrus.

Each founder had three minutes to pitch followed by a Q&A with the judges and one minute of advice from the judges.

Aperiomics CEO Crystal Icenhour came out on top and took home the $20,000 grand prize.

Aperiomics is a pathogen-testing company that uses genomic analysis to detect every known pathogen from a sample of any nature in one test. Aperiomics has done testing for patients in 18 countries to date.

“I feel great,” Icenhour told Technical.ly DC. “This is a great way to get visibility for our company to help people understand that this is possible.”

Aperiomics wasn’t the only victor of the night, Booz Allen Hamilton presented a $5,000 bonus to Knonap CEO Danya Sherman for what it calls “the young social innovators award.”

About Aperiomics

Aperiomics is the only company identifying every bacteria, DNA virus, fungi and parasite in one test. Clinicians and patients call on Aperiomics to identify infectious diseases that other tests cannot. The only company of its kind and scope in the world, Aperiomics identifies every known pathogen (bacteria, virus, fungi or parasite) in a single test via deep metagenomic shotgun sequencing of DNA from any sample, be it patient, environmental, or otherwise. The complete genetic fingerprint of that sample is then compared to the Aperiomics Microbial Database™- the most comprehensive database of microorganisms, including the world’s largest collection of pathogens. This breakthrough, only possible through Aperiomics, can be used to accurately identify unknown/chronic infections, limit the use of antibiotics and solve difficult medical cases. Patients and their families often contact Aperiomics directly after hearing about our successes in helping others. Aperiomics is supported by the National Science Foundation. It was named Life Sciences Innovator of the Year in 2016 and a finalist in the 2018 Greater Washington Innovation Awards. For more information, visit www.aperiomics.com or call (703) 229-0406.